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Festival Programs

View the 61st Festival selection in carefully curated thematic Programs chosen by our programmers.

A young baseball team walks out onto the field, excited expressions on their faces. Their jerseys read "Great Lakes Region"

Opening Night

This year’s festival kicks off with One Golden Summer. Years after cheating allegations stripped a Chicago Little League team of their championship title, this eye-opening documentary uncovers the story behind the headlines.

A man sits on a train car next to a young girl. The girl looks up at him with suspicion.

Centerpiece

In Rental Family, an American actor (Brendan Fraser) struggles to find purpose until he lands an unusual gig: working for a Japanese “rental family” agency, playing stand-in roles for strangers.

A man and a woman stand face to face, both excited to see each other. Another man stands between them, shocked.

Closing Night

Closing out the festival is Eternity, in which souls in the afterlife have one week to decide where to spend eternity. Joan (Elizabeth Olsen) is faced with the impossible choice between her husband and her first love.

A man in a white suit stands smiling in the street, standing in front of a black and white portrait of himself.

Special Presentations

Be the first to catch the year’s most highly anticipated films by notable directors featuring celebrated talents.

A man and two children sit in front of a shoe store. The man holds one boy, while the other talks to someone off screen.

International Competition

Masterful, stylish, and bold, these powerful cinematic statements represent the best in modern filmmaking from around the globe.

A woman in an apron works a nail salon, filing a client's toenails.

New Directors Competition

Screening for the first time in the U.S., these bold works from emerging talents showcase exciting new voices in international cinema.

An elderly person holds a strip of film up to a light, inspecting its contents.

Documentary

These real-life stories bring you close to memorable people reckoning with the personal and the political, the past and the present.

In black and white, a man stands at a podium wearing a knit cap and a shirt with a graphic of a raised fist and the words “Black Power.” He leans into the microphone, flanked by two men on either side, with books titled Black Poetry and Black Pride displayed prominently in front.

Documentary Competition

From Ireland to North Macedonia, Canada to Libya, these compelling international documentaries compete for the festival’s top nonfiction prize.

A man in period clothing stands on a ship. A sail behind him features a red cross-like symbol.

Spotlight

Award-winners and critical favorites, these films are among the year’s most acclaimed and accomplished.

A teenage girl draped in a striped beach towel looks pensively away, while a young man in a green towel stands blurred in the background near the shore.

Snapshots

Featuring everything from heartfelt dramas to animated adventures to gripping thrillers, these resonant works showcase the diversity of contemporary global cinema.

Six people pose together in front of a sky backdrop with a rainbow. They all wear light blue button-up shirts, khaki pants, oversized glasses, and curly black wigs, striking playful and exaggerated poses. One person kneels in front while the others stand, giving the scene a humorous, staged feel.

OutLook

Competing for the Q Hugo Award, these superbly crafted films reflect the myriad perspectives and experiences of LGBTQ+ individuals.

Shorts

Spanning narrative, documentary, and animation, these films are succinct yet mighty demonstrations of the exceptional craft and considerable scope of the short form.

A woman with wild hair and yellow eyes and teeth speaks to a person, a wild expression on her face. There is blood on her face.

After Dark

From sex-on-demand to colonial revenge and jinn to necromancers, these blood-splattered stories put us face-to-face with fantastical frights and the real-world conditions that produce them.

Poster of film, an illustrated boy looks up towards the sky with a small row of wooden houses behind him.

Black Perspectives

From North America to Africa and the Caribbean, this collection of stories about the Black experience explores cultural icons, historical excavations, and the complexities of individuals in relation to their communities.

A young man stands with his arms around a young woman with Lake Michigan and the Chicago skyline in the background.

City & State

From destructive tornados to dysfunctional families and more, these stories from the brightest local talents will compete for the Chicago Award.

A man stands on stage in green light, holding a microphone to his mouth with a smug expression on his face.

Comedy

Hilarious, deadpan, and satirical, this program presents a range of films that will keep you laughing out loud.

A man in a sparkly costume sits at a piano, surrounded by red light and smoke.

Community Cinema

Community Cinema presents free indoor screenings of Chicago International Film Festival films in the Englewood and Pilsen neighborhoods.

Seen in black and white, a man and a woman walk down a city street while the man smokes.

Retrospectives

From a Martinican 1983 classic to American indies and a French New Wave masterpiece, these restored screenings (some on 35mm!) give you the rare chance to see past movies anew.

Past Events

A woman in church looks over her shoulder

Best of the Fest

Don’t miss newly added screenings of these Festival award winners and audience favorites!

Newly Added

Exciting, last-minute additions to the festival lineup.

Four women lay together, holding each other tenderly.

Women in Cinema

Powerful and provocative films by both leading women filmmakers and exciting new voices.

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